1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to implantable hearing aid technology. Specifically, the invention pertains to a programmable hearing aid in which several parameters are adjustable by a patient and a physician after the hearing aid has been permanently implanted in the patient.
2. Description of Related Art
Several types of partially implantable hearing aids have been in use for sometime now. Although there are significant variations between these devices, the basic structural organization remains the same. Currently, very little adjustments could be made to these devices after implant. Generally, in hearing aids where the entire device is implanted there is only a one-time adjustment which is done during the time of installation. Subsequent adjustments would therefore require an invasive surgical procedure thus making continued fine tuning and real time adjustment very expensive and time consuming.
The imperatives for continued adjustment of hearing aids may primarily be driven by morphological changes in the auditory elements of the patient""s ears. This may result in the hearing aid being occasionally out of tune thus needing adjustments to rectify the problem. Further, to be effective, a hearing aid must preferably be implemented to match a patient""s specific needs. These needs may change over time and, as well, depend on the type of eminent auditory stimulus to which the patient is subjected. For example, a patient may at the very least be able to adjust the volume of an auditory stimulus. Moreover, the patient may elect to turn the device off, for example, and attempt to block out unwanted noise. Furthermore, the patient may elect to test the performance of the hearing aid and conduct a self-directed preliminary evaluation.
As indicated hereinabove, with the exception of invasive surgery, there are no systems known to the inventors which enable real time and non-invasive adjustments of hearing aids after implant. Accordingly, there is a need for a method and device to enable patients and physicians to adjust hearing aids, after implant, on an as needed basis.
It is one of the primary objectives of this invention to provide built-in adjustment tools and telemetry for hearing aids after permanent implant without any subsequent invasive surgery.
It is another object of this invention to provide a locally and remotely adjustable inner ear hearing aid to enable a high level of reliability and maintainability. In this regard, it is a further object of the invention to provide patient-adjustable features likely to reduce non-critical visits to the doctor while promoting patient freedom to travel and live in rural areas where a clinic or a hospital may not be readily available.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an external device configured to select parameters and settings, electronics for encoding the settings into, preferably, a digital pulse code modulated format, electronics for generating RF carrier for transmitting the encoded signals, and an antenna to receive the signals. The external device interfaces with an implanted hearing aid to thereby influence the functional parameters of the implanted hearing aid as needed.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an infrared carrier to carry encoded information between the programmed and implanted hearing aid. In this configuration the transmitter/receiver (transceiver) is similar to a remote controller commonly used to program audiovisual equipment. The hearing aid is implanted subcutaneously with a window in the housing of the electronics package that is at least partially transparent to infrared signals.
Yet a further object of the present invention includes a method in which a programmer/transmitter emits ultrasonic signals which are received by ultrasonic transducer in or near the implanted electronics package. The transmitter may be touched to the skin of the patient near the receiver transducer in order to conduct the signals through the body from the transmitter to the receiver.
Yet another object of the invention includes a logic structure in which the programmer/transmitter sends encoded acoustic signals that are picked up by the ear drum and thus detected by the input transducer of the implanted hearing aid. The circuitry in the hearing aid continually checks for specific programming patterns (wake up code) in a specific frequency band of the programmer/transmitter and when detected decodes the information and makes the required changes.
Another object of the invention includes the provision of a telemetry structure including data streams. The telemetry structure uses, inter alia, pulse code telemetry and pulse interval telemetry. The data stream is formatted to instruct the receiver that data is being transmitted and that, subsequently, the data should be stored in memory upon reception.